Cornell's Ithaca campus may be more than 200 miles away from Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in New York City, but that distance is growing smaller as researchers from the two campuses collaborate more than ever before.

Consider, for example:

• An assistant professor of public health at WCMC and an assistant professor of operations research and industrial engineering at Cornell's Ithaca campus are working together to build a model for coping with high patient loads after a public health crisis.
• A professor of radiology at WCMC and a professor of electrical and computer engineering in Ithaca have developed methods to screen for lung cancer at a stage when the cancers are too small to be seen by conventional methods.
• A professor of plant biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of medicine at WCMC are developing an international outreach effort to organize and clinically evaluate plant-based mixtures used by traditional medical practitioners to treat diseases from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis to cancer and hypertension.

And that's just the beginning. Cornell researchers are bridging the distance between Ithaca and New York City by collaborating on big-picture projects -- the kinds that require the combined expertise of theoreticians, experimentalists and clinicians.

Researchers agree that collaborations like these offer the best hope for solving some of the world's most intractable problems. So while the Ithaca campus and WCMC each has its own campaign framework and timeline, an unprecedented joint effort is also under way, focused on raising funds that will be allocated specifically to collaborative projects.

"[This] is very much needed as we look for future donations from foundations and from federal agencies," said Charlie Phlegar, vice president for alumni affairs and development, noting that the joint effort is a top priority.

"Science is advancing to be more integrative across the disciplines," added Steve Kresovich, vice provost for the life sciences and professor of plant breeding and genetics.

Kresovich noted that a recent task force report identified four groupings of disciplines in which Cornell has potential "synergies of expertise": biomedical engineering, nanomedicine and systems biology; chemical biology and experimental therapeutics; global health and infectious diseases; and multidisciplinary approaches to cancer biology.

Facilitating cross-campus interactions in these and other areas, he said, could be the best way to foster innovation and creativity. "It just makes good sense, intellectually and academically."